Hay-baler.



Fammi oct 2,1917. j 4 SHEETS-SHED' l.

NvEN'ron ATTORNEY H. PEACOCK.

'HAY-min.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 29. 1915.

WITNESSE `M im H. PEACOCK.

HAY BALER.

APPUcATmu man FEB. 29. 19in.

Patented Oct. 2, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' H. PEACOCK HAY BALER. APPLICATION. HLED FEB. 29| 'i916- L,241,548. Patented oct. 2,1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

mi Il ATTO RN EY UNITED sTATEsPATnNr onnion.

HERMAN PEA'COCK, OF PLAINFIELD, INDIANA.

HAY-BALER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application flied February 29, 191e. I 'serial No. 81,222.

nature andobjects of the invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which it appertains-in the light of the following explanation ot the accompanying drawings; illustrating what. I now believe to be the preferred embodiment or mechanical expression of my invention, from among other toi-ms and arrangements within the sp; "t and scope thereof.

An objet. of the invention is to provide a bale tying mechanism which is absolutely automatic in its operation and rwhich will securely tie one bale after another without the assistance of an operator.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bale tying mechanism 'of' the character described which may be readily attached to hay baling presses ot the usual type which are not provided with bale tying means, (and withouty injuring or alte-ring the press whatsoever.)

In addition to the foregoing, my invention comprehends improvements in the details of construction and arrangement of parts which will be tnlly described and particularly pointed ont `in the appended claims.

In the (,lrawings in which corresponding and similar parts are designated by the same rel'eiencc characters throughout the several views in which they appear:

Figure l, is a, view in side elevation of a 'portion of athaling press embodying my invention,

Fig. 2, is a transverse section taken on the Y line 24-2 of Fig.l 1,

. Fig. 3, is a View in side elevation o't that side of the press opposite to that. shown in vthe kline 8--8 of Fig. 9,

' Figs. 4, 5, t3, and 7 illust rate the knotting mechanism in various positions,

Fig. 8, is a detail sectional` View taken on as shown in Fig. l.

Patented Oct. 2, 191,@v i

Fig, l0, is a horizontal sectional View" taken on the line 10-10 ot' Fig. 8,

Fig. l1, is a detail plan view of oneoii the knotting mechanisms, with a portion of its snperposed mechanism removed, and

invent-ion. i

In thel 'accompanying drawings A :indicates the body of a hay baling' press provided with the usual feeding hopper The sides oi the body portion are slotted'atv` C to pernnt the insertion of baling wire in'f` the well known manner.

A guide trame l is secured to one side/f 51'# of the press and extends laterally therefrom' to foi-in sliding support for a reciprocating member hereinafter tei'n'ied the needle bar-f The needle is t'ormctlf with spaced parallel arms 3 which' are? guided within the trame and are provided'- at their outer extremities with pulleys .\lincd openings 5 and (i are formed in the,`

and designated side walls ot the. press and are designed to 'i60 l Fig. 1Q, is a detail section taken on the* line 12-1'2 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 13, is a detail View in section ota` sliding platetor'actuating the devices 'of my 'f receive the larms ot the needle which is s@ adapted to be reciprocated transversely ot" head and is formed with a hooked portion l2 and oppositel'v extending arms lil and l't A longitudinally mov able. bar l5 is secured to some. portion of the balinj; press which moves in unison with the plunger (not shown) and is adapted to operate between thc guides S. 'The bar lr'is also provided with a lateral `pin lt' which is adapted to be engaged by the hooked portion ot' the latch member 1l the, cross-head theI bar toward a Acentralized position to be secuiely held between thel edge ot the cross head and the hooked portion Aof. tliellatch havingtlaring edges 7 to Vguide the end olf-lit resultingin the transverse movement thereof through the body of the balng press.,v

At the opposite side ofthe press and l0, cated-adjacent the openings 6 are knotting mechanisms, two sets having been illustrated but obviously, more may be employed if desired, and a description of one set will suiice for both as they are identical in structure and operation. --A bracket 17 is removably secured to the side wall of the press and affords 'su port for a supporting plate 18, which is ormed with a central raised portion 19. A gear wheel 20'ismounted for rotation upon the upper surface of the plate 18 and is formed with a central opening for the reception of the raised portion 19.v

Mounted upon the raised portion in suitable bearings is a inion 21 formed with a radial slotl 21", whic pinion meshes with a larger pinion 22 journaled uplon a shaft 23 which 1s secured to the brac et 17 and a smaller bracket 24 which bracket also affords partial support to the plate 18. The pinion 21 is covered by a housing 25 and a ridge piece 26 is provided with its ends supported upon the gear 20 and its intermediate portion extendin over the pinion 21. The ends of the bridge piece are formed with cutting edges 27 which are adapted to co-act with cutting edges formed upon shearing members 28 pivoted at diametrically opposite oints to the gear 20. The shearing members are further provided at their free ends with rollers 29 which have rolling engagement with the u per surface of the gear 20, the surface of t e plate 18bein provided with de ressed cam portions 30 w ich are in theupat of movement of the aforesaid rollers. It will thus be seen that whilethe rollf the fiat surface ers are in engagement with of .the

ofthe plate 18 the cutting edges 4 shearing members which 'carry the rollers rollers are moved over the depressed porand the cutting edges of the bridge piece are in operative engagement, and when the tions the outer ends of the shearing .members are accordingly' lowered and. the coacting shear` members are separated.

Pivoted tothe \gear-20 within openings formed thereadjacentthe ends of the bridge piece andat diametrically opposite points on the gear with respect to each other are substantially bell-cranked members 31, and depressed portions 32 'are formed in the plate 18 which depressed portions are in the path of movement of the depending arms jacent the knotting mechanism and which is' mounted in guides 34. The plate is formed with parallel spaced arms 35 also movable within the guides. 0n the upper'surfaee ofthe arms 35 there is provided gear teeth 36which ymesh with the aforedescribed pinion 22 of the knotting mechanism and a sec ond set of gear teeth 37.'are formed on the' sides of the arms 35 and are adapted to en-v gage a pinion 38 mounted on a vertical shaft 39 which carries and has fixed to it a pinion 40 which in turn meshes with the gear 20 and supplies rotative movement thereto in one direction only and to that end a pawl 41 is pivoted to the plate 18 and engages the'periphery of the gear 20, and a pawl and ratchet 42 is mounted on the pinion 38 and shaft 39, thus permitting thesaid pinion to have locking engagement with the shaft when the pinion is moved in one direction and to rotate freely on the-shaft when moved in the opposite direction.

A lat-ch member 42 provided with a hooked portion 43 and a tripping arm 44 at right angles thereto is pivoted to the plate 33, and a longitudinally movable bar 45 which moves in unison with the plunger is formed with a lateral pin 46 on its end, said pin being adapted to engage the hooked portion of the-latch member 42. A lever 47 formed with opposit/ely extending ends and Aan intermediate portion at right angles thereto is pivoted to the-side of the press, one of the ends of said lever engaging the tripping arm 44 of the latch member 42 with theother end engaging the extremity of a lever 48 which is pivoted at its intermediate portion to the underside of the press and extends transversely thereof, said lever 28 having its other extremity in the path of movement'of an arm 49 secured to the aforedescribed cross-head 7. K

The operation of the machine is as' followsz- 'Assuming that compressed within the walls of the/press and the plunger is moving rearward away va charge of hay has been from the charge, as a result ofsuch movev ment the needle bar is assed across the rear end of the charge in t e manner previously described and a loop of wire is formed around the bale. Referring to Fig. 4 oneend -previous operation of the knottingmechanism. The wire strand is then seen to, pass around the upstanding end of one of the "formed by twisting the wire is released.

-therlatcli member is thereby raised thus releasing the cross head and the needle bar isr i'etiiriied to its former position through the intiuence ot' a spring 2?, leaving the knotting mechanism in the position shown in Fig. 5.

Referring to Fig. 5 it will be noted that la loop of wire designated 53 is formed by the retraction of the needle bar and said loopsubstantially encircles the bridge piece 2G. At the moment when the latch member 11 is tripped as described above the arm 49 engages the lever 18 which in turn transmits its motion to the latch'member resultiig in the engagement ot' thc plate 33 carrying the arms 35, and said. plate and arms are moved rearwardly by the plunger. The gear`20 is rotatedthrough the medium of the rack teeth 37, pinion 38, and pinion 4() which meshes with the gear Q0, bringing said gear into the position shown in Fig. 6. It will he noted in this connection that por- 'tioiis ot' the wire designated -l and 55 are now disposed in parallel relation owing to the movement ot' the gear 20 and t'urtlier- -more tl'ic said parallel portions extend into the 'radial 4slot 21 formed in the pinion 21. .\n instant after the rotation of the gear 2O is accomplished the pinion 21 is then rotatcdtlii-ough the medium of the rack teeth 36 and pinion 22, thereby twisting the parallel strands of wire together in'the manner shown in liig. t3. 't'urthei rotativc'movement of the gear Q0 brings the rollers 29 out ol' engagement with the depressed portions v ti() into which theyfliad previously dropped and the wires are severed.

During awstill further movement ot the gear l0 the horizontal portions of the ineinbers 8l drop into their corresponding depressed port ion in the plate 18 and the loop It will lioiveverlai noted that the end ot' the wire which extends trom-the reel on the needle bar remains held between the edges of one. oi the. shearing members Q8 and the bridge. piece and during a further movement ot' the gear 20, the. said wii'e is caught upon the upstanding portion of the member 3l and the knotting mechanism assumes the position shown in Fig. 7, ready-for another operation.

For permitting repeated compressions of a hay charge or tor permitting of the formation of bales oi various sizes I provide a periodically operating mechanism desigby certain mechanism which it is unnecessary to describe lin detail. The lever 57 isy adapted to be normally raised so as to engage the trip arm of the hitch member and `nated 56 which comprises a lever 57 operable i therebyA prevent the engagement of said. -f

latch with the pin 16 of the bar 15, exceptAv at the time when the bale tying mechanism desired to be operated and then the :lever 57 falls permitting the engagement between the bar 15 and its correlatedlatch and the operation of the bale tying mechanism takes place 'in the manner previously described.A

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a bale tying mechanism of extreme simplicity consistent wi'th the operations to be performed, and which mechanism will be turthermore absolutely positive in its ope ation. Having thus described my invention what I claim is v 1. The combination with a baling press including a plunger, of bale tying mechanism, comprising a needle bar for carrying, i

a wire loop transversely across the baling press, a cross head movable longitudinally of the baling press, flexible means for connecting the cross-head to the needle bar, re-

leasable means for connecting the cross-hea dl to the plunger, whereby upon a rearward movement ,of the plunger the cross-head is simultaneously moved therewith and the needle bar caused to move ytransversely `of the baling press, resilient means 'for returning the needle bar to its starting position when the cross-head connecting means is re`- leased, .and wire knotting mechanism. l

2. The combination in a hay baling press including a plunger, ot' a knottingmechanism comprising a horizontal rotating element, a wire twisting pinion stationarily mounted at the center ot' the rotating element means ing element Jfor holding the end portion of the wire within the wire twisting pinion, said wire extending from Ythe post and partly sii 1r .iiiiidiiig a bale compressed ,with-v in the press, means for threading the wire in forni of a loop across the free end of the bale, means for securing the loop, means for rotating the element to bring the free end portion and one strand ot the loop into parallelism, and within the` wire twisting leo lon the element for holding the free end of -the wire, aniipstaiidii'ig post on the rotatpinion, and means for actuating the loop i holding means to sever the other strand of the loop.

3. The combination in a baling press including a plunger of knotting mechanism which comprises a horizontal rotatable element formed on its periphery with gear teeth and a central aperture, a. stationary platform for supporting the element and having a raised portion which fits within the aperture, a wire twisting pinion mounted on the raised portion, shearing elements located at diametrically opposite points on the rotating element, pivoted wire engaging standards mounted on the rotating element, a pinion wheel meshing with the periphery of the rotating element, a pawl also engaging the periphery of the rotating element to prevent backward rotation thereof, and means operated by the plunger for rotating the pinion.

4. The combination in a baling press including a plunger of knotting mechanism which comprises a horizontal rotating element provided with gear teeth and a central aperture a stationary platform having a raised portion rovided with a wire twisting pinion, a ridge piece which extends across and above the said pinion and is secured at its ends'to the rotative element, shearing elements at each end of the bridge piece, upstanding wire engaging posts on the rotative element and means for rotating said element.

5. The combination in a baling press including a plunger of knotting mechanism which comprises a horizontal rotating gear which is formed with a cc tral aperture, a stationary platform forme with an upstanding portior which extends through the aperture for rotation, a wire twisting pinion mounted in bearings on the upstanding portion, a cover partly surrounding the pinion,'

a bridge piece secured to the gear and extending'diametrically across the gear and Y cutting over the pinion, the bridge piece being provided at each end with cutting edges, shearing blades pivoted to the gear and having edges which co-act with the aforesaid cutting edges of the bridge piece, rollers on the shear blades which bear upon the surface of the platform and are adapted to engage one of the aforesaid depressed portions formed therein, upstandingr posts pivoted to the gear at opposite points and which are provided with lateral portions which bear upon the platform and engage the second set of depressions, and -,means for rotating the gear. f

6. 'lhe combination in a baling press of knotting mechanism comprising rotative elements provided with gear teeth and wire cutting mechanism, means for twisting the wire, a pinion which meshes with the said rotative element, a shaft fixed to the pinion,

a second pinion on the shaft a movable rack bar which engages the second pinion, guides for the rack bar, a spring for holding the i rack bar in one position, releasable means connected to the plunger for engaging the l comprising a needle bar on one side .j ture in presence rack bar to move same and place the spring under strain, and means for releasing the said rack bar engagingmeans when the plunger is moved toward its rear position whereby the rack bar is caused to return under the influence of the spring and the rotative element thereby operated.

7. The combination in a baling press including a plunger of knotting mechanism which comprises a rotative element provided with gear teeth and wire cutting mechanism, a pinion which meshes with'the said gear, a journaled shaft fixed to the pinion, a second pinion on the shaft, a wire twisting pinion mounted above the rotating element, a large a latch mem er pivoted to the rack bar, a

bar which moves in unison with the plunger a pin on the extremit of the bar for engaging the latch, the said pin being also adapted to engage the edges of the rack bar whereby the bar and rack are locked together for simultaneous movement when the plunger is retracted to its rear position, means for engaging the' latch to trip same and permit the rack bar to return to former position and a spring for insuring said return.

8. The combination in a baling press including a plunger of bale tying mechanism of the press and movable transversely` therethrouvh for carrying a loop of wire, a longitudinally movable cross head on the press and connected to the plunger, means for converting the' longitudinal movement of the cross head into transverse movement for operating the needle bar, an arm on said cross-head means on the'other side of the press for twisting and severing' the wire to form ay loop around the bale, rack bars on the side of the press adjacent the twisting mechanism and releasable means on the rack head when the plunger is in its rear position.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signaof two witnesses. HERMAN PEACOCK.

Witnesses:

RALPH B. HORNADAY, EVANGELINE E. COOK.- 

